Martin Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Carlos Alcaraz will be hoping his victory over France's Hugo Humbert at Wimbledon on Sunday can be replicated when the Spanish soccer team takes on France in the Euro 2024 semi-final.
The defending champion and third seed was completely overwhelmed by a strong performance from 16th seed Humbert, but managed to win 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals.
Alcaraz, a soccer fan who has been closely following Spain's progress in Euro 2024, will be in attendance on Tuesday, the same day Spain plays France in Munich, in the quarter-finals.
“I hope they get the same result as me today,” the 21-year-old told reporters.
“We won in tennis, so I expect the Spanish team to win in soccer.”
Alcaraz missed the first half of Spain's quarterfinal match against Germany this week after needing five sets to beat American slugger Francis Tiafoe.
The three-time Grand Slam champion will be hoping the schedule is in his favour, with Tuesday's match between Spain and France kicking off at 19:00 GMT.
“First of all, I support Spain because it's Spain,” he said. “I have a really good relationship with some of the players on the team, especially Alvaro Morata.”
“He's a really good friend, so now it's time to support them because I know they're supporting me when I'm playing in matches and tournaments. Now it's my turn.”
“Hopefully we won't play at the same time on Tuesday, but we'll see. Hopefully we can see something from the game.”
Sunday's schedule was again affected by rain, so the 21-year-old Alcaraz was still waiting to find out who he would face in his ninth Grand Slam quarterfinal.
He will face either American Tommy Paul or fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
(Reporting by Martin Herman and Alison Williams Editing)
